The Third Shoe Drops

Chemo treatment number 3 for Donna was Friday and this one made the last one look like vacation. The last two we were able to leave from the Cancer Center and have a nice lunch, this time it was straight home for chicken & barley soup thoughtfully provided by a friend. More soup for supper too.

The last two chemos caused a lot of stomach pain and low grade nausea that we kept pretty much in check with the 3 different meds we were given prescriptions for. This time, in spite of trying to stay ahead of the nausea with medicine, early Saturday morning Donna was visited by Mr. Upchuck, twice. Mid-morning on we didn’t feel terrific, but everything stayed down. We made a short trip out to the Cancer Center for another Neulasta shot at 11:00AM and managed a slow walk around our 1 mile long block, but other than that the couch was her friend. This morning we had a repeat performance of Saturday morning, but once again the stomach settled for the rest of the day. She even felt good enough to get a cup of ice cream and walk a block of downtown Aiken tonight.

We have a couple of things we would like to blame for being hit so hard this time. Four days prior to this chemo we spent 4 long days on the road to and from Virginia which was tiring. By Thursday she wasn’t feeling good, stomach-wise, already and we went out to eat with the Miata Club to a not so great restaurant. At least we hope this is what caused it, because we can control them and the lead up to #4, and last, chemo will be less eventful and less stressful.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 184

Sticker Fun

Put on the replacement C & H sticker on the back bumper. I think it is a little bigger than the last one. The original sticker in silver that I put on crooked was 6″ high and I thought it looked a little big, so when I went to dark yellow I got him to make it 5-1/2″ high. This one looks like we reverted to a 6″ size. Seems a bit too big and I put it on leaning a little too much, but it looks good back there anyway.

I had one zoom-zoom sticker left and I put it in the same spot I have on the last two cars, on the inside of the trunk lid with each zoom straddling the trunk latch, so you can see it when the lid is up.

Now we just have to make a trip to Deal’s Gap to get a dragon sticker and start the under lid collection in earnest.

While I was there I straightened out the lid. loosened the 4 nuts and pushed and pulled until it is pretty good, not perfect, but better than before. I used an 11/64th drill bit as a spacer. On Monday I’ll take the calipers back out and give you the new measurements. Oooh, goody, more trigonometry.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 182

Trunk Math

The good news is the trunk is fine, just the way I looked at it was off. This morning at work I walked out to the parking lot with my digital calipers in hand. I measured the gap on the right side of the trunk lid, near the front it read .196 inches and at the rear it read .151 inches. That I could see, so now I measured the let side which I thought looked good, near the front it read .165 and near the rear it read .209 inches.

Time to do some ciphering. The difference between front and back on the left is .044 and the difference between front and back on the right is .045 meaning the trunk lid sides are parallel, but it is installed crooked. If we add up the gaps at the front we get .361 while the back adds up to .360 inches. At this point we’ll go ahead and throw out that odd thousandth of an inch because of not measuring in exactly the same spots on each side. The gap between trunk and fender should be .180 inches all around. I guess tomorrow morning I’ll go out to the garage and loosen the 4 mounting bolts and see if I can it all lined up.

For fans of higher math let’s use a little trigonometry and see what the angle of error is on the freshly painted trunk lid. The error between front to back was .044 inches or the opposite side of our triangle. The distance between front back measurement locations is 22 inches or the adjacent side of our triangle. Using my favorite mnemonic, Oscar Had A Hairy Old Ass, I know the tangent of the angle is the Opposite divided by the Adjacent. I can divide .044 by 22 and get .002, now I just have to figure out what angle has a tangent of .002, or what is the arctangent of .002. The calculator that comes with windows does tangents, but not arctangents, so a googling I go. I am led to Carbide Depot.com and their free online trig calculator which gives me an angle of 0.11459140° or if you like, 0° 6′ 53”.

Not much of an angle, but noticeable (at least on one side) to me.

Started down, went up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 181

No Bull

The Taurus is gone and the Miata is back. They fixed almost everything on my list and came close on the other two, so I got our car back and will learn to live with a couple of minor imperfections.

The trunk lid is off kilter by just a little. Funny thing is that the gap changes noticeably on one side while it is hardly perceptible on the other side. Is the trunk itself crooked? They bought it through the local Mazda dealer… The thing that worries me the most is the thing that is supposed to reassure me, a sticker on the inside of the lid that says “Mazda.” Like that really confirms it is a genuine Mazda part. After only a month or so with my original Miata in 1989, I got a cracked windshield from rock kicked up by a big truck. The glass replacement guy made a big deal of showing me the little white lettering that said Mazda to prove he was installing an OEM piece of glass. Neither of my subsequent Miatas had that white lettering on the windshield.

They got most of the scratches out of the shift knob, I think after a while I’ll not notice the leftovers. But it is now summertime and each afternoon when I get in the car and burn my hand trying to shift with that hot metal ball I think about getting something different anyway. I wonder if I could get an upholstery shop to cover it with leather? I really like the round shape.

Actually, all in all, it is better than when it went in because they fixed the two small dents and 2 small scratches on the right rear fender. Now that they are through fooling with the car I’ll go ahead and put the replacement Calvin & Hobbes sticker on the bumper.

Started up, went down, back up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 178

Night Ride

We didn’t even get 8 miles in tonight.

I charged up the big battery for the bicycle lights this afternoon, took the lights off of my commuting bike and mounted them on the tandem. The battery charger said the battery was fully charged when we left the house and 8:30PM in the fast fading twilight. After about 5 miles the headlight was looking a little dim, so we turned around and headed home the most direct way possible. We just barely made it back with the headlight still burning.

We haven’t used those lights in about 5 years, so the battery was really dead. I wonder if after a second full charge it will last a little longer?

The Taurus Diaries – Act II, Scene II

Surprise, surprise, the Miata wasn’t ready. I called at 3:30 to see if I could return the Taurus and pick up my car. I was told, “I have a man working on it. We hope to have it ready for you tomorrow.” I almost believed him.

The Taurus Diaries – Act II, Scene I

Dropped the Miata off at the body shop today after work. They gave us a loaner car, a tan Ford Taurus. It has the required rear trunk lid spoiler for that go fast look and rear drum brakes for that stop slow feel.

When I first pointed out my list of flaws to the body shop manager he told me he needed the car for a couple of hours. Tonight when he handed me the keys and I told him I would see him tomorrow around the same time, just the way he said, “I should have it ready for you.”, led both Donna and I to expect the Miata not to be ready then. Sigh.

Almost forgot, on Saturday, about 5 miles past Burlington, NC the Emperor glided past the 40,000 mile mark.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 175